Mckenna Grace (born June 25, 2006) is an American actress. She began acting professionally at the age of six, with her earliest roles including Jasmine Bernstein in the Disney XD sitcom ''

Crash & Bernstein ''Crash & Bernstein'' is an American sitcom which premiered on October 8, 2012, and ended on August 11, 2014, on Disney XD. Created by Eric Friedman, the series centered on a boy with three sisters who wishes to have a brother. His wishes come t ...

'' (2012–2014) and

Faith Newman Faith Newman is a fictional character from ''The Young and the Restless'', an American soap opera on the CBS network. She is currently portrayed by Reylynn Caster, who assumed the role following the departure of Alyvia Alyn Lind, who played Faith ...

in the soap opera ''

The Young and the Restless ''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in fictional Genoa City (not the real-life similarly-named Genoa City, Wi ...

'' (2013–2015). In 2018 and 2019, ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly large ...

'' named her one of the top 30 stars under age 18. She is known for her roles as Mary Adler in the 2017 film '' Gifted'', Abigail Stone in the 2021 film ''

Spirit Untamed ''Spirit Untamed'' is a 2021 American computer-animated adventure film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Universal Pictures. The film was directed by Elaine Bogan and co-directed by Ennio Torresan Jr. (in their feature dire ...

'' and Phoebe Spengler in the 2021 film '' Ghostbusters: Afterlife''.

Career

Acting

In 2013, Grace made her acting debut playing Sydney in the television pilot ''Joe, Joe & Jane''. Later she recurred on the Disney XD series ''

''."HBD: 10 TV Shows You Had No Idea Mckenna Grace Was In,
M Magazine
June 25, 2015. She had a recurring role as Faith Newman on ''

'' between 2013 and 2015. In 2015, she had a recurring role on the CBS series '' CSI: Cyber''. Grace played the role of Daisy in the science fiction thriller '' Independence Day: Resurgence''; the film, directed by Roland Emmerich, was released on June 24, 2016. Other early film roles include the drama film ''

Mr. Church ''Mr. Church'' is a 2016 American drama film directed by Bruce Beresford and written by Susan McMartin. The film stars Eddie Murphy as the title character with Britt Robertson, Xavier Samuel, Lucy Fry, Christian Madsen and Natascha McElhone al ...

'' (2016), and the comedy film '' How to Be a Latin Lover'' (2017). In 2017, Grace played a lead role in the Marc Webb drama film '' Gifted'' as child prodigy Mary Adler, starring alongside Chris Evans. She gained recognition for her performance in the role, being nominated for the

Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Young Performer The Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Young Performer (Actor/Actress) is one of the awards given to people working in the film industry by the Critics Choice Association at the annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards. Winners and nominees 1990s ; ...

. She learned to ice skate to portray the younger version of

Tonya Harding Tonya Maxene Price (née Harding; born November 12, 1970) is an American former figure skater, retired boxer and a reality television personality. Born in Portland, Oregon, Harding was raised primarily by her mother, who enrolled her in ice s ...

in the biopic '' I, Tonya'', describing it as the "most challenging role" she'd ever undertaken. Grace also played the significant role of Juliet in the horror film '' Amityville: The Awakening'' along with Bella Thorne; Franck Khalfoun directed the film. Grace starred as Emma Grossman in the 2018 horror drama film '' The Bad Seed''. Grace has occasionally appeared in '' Young Sheldon'' from 2018 to 2021 as Paige Swanson, a child prodigy and a rival to

Sheldon Cooper Sheldon Lee Cooper, Ph.D., Sc.D., is a fictional character in the CBS television series '' The Big Bang Theory'' and its spinoff series '' Young Sheldon'', portrayed by actors Jim Parsons and Iain Armitage respectively (with Parsons as the la ...

. Grace starred as Judy Warren, daughter of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, in the 2019 horror film '' Annabelle Comes Home''. Also that year, she appeared in the

Marvel Studios Marvel Studios, LLC (originally known as Marvel Films from 1993 to 1996) is an American film and television production company that is a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, a division of the Walt Disney Company. Marvel Studios produces the Ma ...

film '' Captain Marvel'' as a younger version of the titular character. Grace appeared as the younger version of Sabrina Spellman on the first season of

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

's '' Chilling Adventures of Sabrina''. She voiced the younger Daphne Blake in the 2020 animated film '' Scoob!'', and was set to reprise the role in the follow-up ''Scoob!: Holiday Haunt'', which was set for release in late 2022 on

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Ne ...

, but it was canceled in August 2022. In 2021, she starred in

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

animated film, ''

'' as Abigail Stone. Grace's career has encompassed portraying the "younger version" of various characters. On this notion she stated, "It's really funny. I don't know how that ended up happening. But I'm really glad that it did, because I definitely got to learn from all of the actresses that I played younger versions of." In 2021, Grace played Phoebe in '' Ghostbusters: Afterlife'', plus the role of Esther Keyes in the fourth season of the

Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television series ...

adaptation of

Margaret Atwood Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, teacher, environmental activist, and inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of non-fiction, ...

's ''

The Handmaid's Tale ''The Handmaid's Tale'' is a futuristic dystopian novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood and published in 1985. It is set in a near-future New England in a patriarchal, totalitarian theonomic state known as the Republic of Gilead, which ...

'' and earned a nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series at the 73rd Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards. In August, she joined

Thomasin McKenzie Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie (born 26 July 2000) is a New Zealand actress. After a minor role in '' The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies'' (2014), she rose to critical prominence after playing a young girl living in isolation in Debra Granik's dr ...

and Olivia Wilde in Searchlight Pictures' feature ''Perfect''.

Music

In 2020, Grace signed with Photo Finish Records, and in November 2021 she released her debut single "Haunted House" alongside an accompanying music video. While not originally written for '' Ghostbusters: Afterlife,'' the song was eventually added to the film's soundtrack and used for the closing credits. When asked, Grace explained that the song was written during a rough period of her life in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and that one "could take it as a breakup song, but it could also be about a friend or a family member or any kind of relationship that's ended." On February 13, 2022, Grace released her follow up single "Do All My Friends Hate Me?" along with a music video. On April 21, Grace released her third single "You Ruined Nirvana", also with a music video. On July 8, Grace released her fourth single "Post Party Trauma", but with a lyric video instead.

Personal life

Grace is a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetariani ...

and has directed her affection for animals towards work with Farm Sanctuary and PETA, including appearing in a campaign reminding people not to leave their dogs in hot cars. She was diagnosed with

scoliosis Scoliosis is a condition in which a person's spine has a sideways curve. The curve is usually "S"- or "C"-shaped over three dimensions. In some, the degree of curve is stable, while in others, it increases over time. Mild scoliosis does not ty ...

at age 12, and on October 9th, 2022, she underwent spinal surgery to correct the curvature of her spine, which was over 45 degrees. Post-op, her spinal curvature is at only 6 degrees.

Filmography

Film

Television

Music videos

Discography

Singles

Awards and nominations

Solo awards

Ensemble awards

Other awards

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Grace, Mckenna 2006 births 21st-century American actresses 21st-century American singers American child actresses American child singers American film actresses American television actresses American voice actresses American pop rock singers American musicians of Mexican descent Child pop musicians Living people Singer-songwriters from Texas Actresses from Texas American actresses of Mexican descent